Best neighborhood for renting an apartment in Rome with young kids
 

Hi all

After some great advice from the Fodorites on how we should spend our time in Italy with 2 young children in fall for 8 days, I am wondering where is the best neighborhood for renting an apartment? Any recommendations for rentals also (websites etc)? Keeping in mind we may do some daytrips out of the city - maybe to Florence.

Thanks so much!
KD

I have never traveled internationally with kids, but my husband and I just stayed 5 nights at an apartment in Trastevere. We thought it was wonderful and we were right near a playground where tons of kids played afternoon...the whole time, we thought it would be perfect to come back to with our 2-year-old. The playground was right next to the market in Piazza San Cosimato, which would be great if you are planning on doing any cooking (even if just breakfast and snacks). There was also a Conad grocery store in the bottom of a department store on the main street not too far away.

The area was much less touristy and crowded then the other areas that we went for sightseeing. And we thought using the bus/metro was easy to get to the Vatican and Colosseum. We just walked to the historic center.

My caveat would be that I don't know how much sightseeing you are doing with the kids. It might be a pain to be slightly further away from the main sights, because they might not be able to walk as far and herding them onto public transport might stink. And while it would be easy to take the tram to the Trastevere train station, I'm not sure if your day trip trains would depart from there. They may only leave from Termini.

Caze17, I'd love to hear about the apartment you chose in Trastevere. We're going next fall with our 4 year old and I liked that area near the San Cosimato market where we stayed pre-baby in 2009. If you're willing to share a link I'd love to see it! Thanks!

We stayed in a great one-bedroom on the second floor of an elevator building.

http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/rome/110408

The tiny balcony was great for enjoying coffee or a cocktail.

I'm not sure how it would work with a kid. I don't believe that the couch was a sleeper, though you could probably just put some sheets and blankets on it and make it work. But it might be tough if you are hoping to put your child to bed, and then stay up awhile.

Have a great trip!

Is it a studio or a one bedroom? How big was the bed? We usually sleep together on vacation :)

It was a one-bedroom. I can't remember, but I think it was a queen. The kitchen was more of an efficiency-type kitchen, but it worked for our purposes. I'm not sure I could cook a big, gourmet meal in there, though!

One other thought, the balcony railing was definitely a little low, so you might have to be careful with a four-year-old. But you could always shut the doors when you weren't watching closely.